The Drop — Dealing with NearbuyBS

Human beings are incredible. We grow up moving through the world, and quickly begin to understand and adopt a loose framework of constraints. Some are mental, which we call morals. Some are physical, which we call physics. Those “known” constraints guide the decisions we make, the way we think, the way we act, and the way we envision ourselves navigating life.

When something disrupts any of those, we naturally second-guess ourselves. These disruptions are constantly happening:

The way we think: We get a new piece of information that changes the way we think.

The way we act: We witness a negative consequence of an action that we had not fully internalized, so we change the way we act.

The way we envision: We get news that disrupts our plan, so we have to build a new one.

I want to talk a little bit more about how we handle these disruptions, because I believe it is one of the most important parts of starting and scaling a successful business. For the purpose of this newsletter, we will call them setbacks.

There are always setbacks when you are building a company. It’s inevitable. As leaders, we rely on a shared understanding of the world to put together a plan, execute that plan, and work toward our ideal outcome. Knowing there will be setbacks, quickly acknowledging them, deciphering what they mean, and putting together a plan to course correct is one of the most important workflows in any business. Maybe even in life itself.

We had our first setback last week.

I have been working with lawyers for quite some time to understand whether we can use the name “NearbuyOS” because “Nearbuy” is a principal trademark owned by a large food services company here in the U.S. We are different. Different companies, different products, different customers. But that is not ultimately what determines your right to operate under a name. Trademark law is one of those constraints that people often learn about a little too late, usually in the form of a cease and desist letter. Having started companies in the past, I knew enough to get ahead of it, understand the risks, and make a decision.

The decision I made was to continue building under the “NearbuyOS” name, secure the domain, and start building the platform.

Then, last week, after we filed our intent-to-use application, I got a call from a new advisor. She is the CEO of another food company and has personal experience with the company that owns the “Nearbuy” trademark.

She said, “There is no way that [COMPANY] will let you operate under that name. I’ve worked with them in the past, and they go after everyone. They will bleed you dry.”

Shit. I immediately thought about John Oliver’s segment covering Buc-ee’s aggressive trademark tactics.

All of the opinion letters and legal advice I received suggested that we had a solid chance of getting the trademark approved for the class we were registering under. And the risk of a massive company coming after little ol’ me was one I was willing to take.

Here we have a perfect example of a disruption. This was new information from a credible source. This was not what I had envisioned. This was not part of the plan. And it immediately created feelings of fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

The good news? We are still building an incredible product. We still have an incredible mission. We still have people who want us to succeed.

So, you may see our name change in the near future. This is our first setback.

But, you know what? I’m not worried. We are still moving forward with our mission to re-establish community commerce across the United States.

After all, what’s in a name, anyway?

Listen and learn from your peers. (see above)